3.18.2008

Top ten retail pet peeves

The following are the top ten complaints people have about retail establishments, and my thoughts on the list:

10. Sales Associate (SA) A ignored you - did not say hello, smile, make eye contact 21
9. SA didn't listen when explaining what you wanted 22
8. Product/item was out of stock 22
7. SA not very polite, courteous 24
6. SA not interested in helping you find what looking for 27
5. SA insensitive to long check-out lines 27
4. SA acted like you were intruding on their time/conversations 29
3. SA followed, pestered when you wanted to browse on own 30
2. Could not find anyone when needed help 31
1. SA had 'that's not my department' attitude 32

10 - Perhaps this SA was in the middle of helping another customer or doing any one of the hundreds of other things that take place in most retail establishments. Ask for their help, then wait until they're available. They're probably not snubbing you for kicks, you'll get help when they can give it.
9 - You're probably not making any sense.
8 - It happens. If you're going to drive an hour to pick up some obscure item from a specialty shop, call first to make sure they have it.
7 - As hard as it is to believe, most sales persons are real people with real lives and emotions. Sometimes those will seep through. Even though you're a Zen master with no visible feelings, not everyone is.
6 - See # 9
5 - We don't control how many people are working the registers. Management does. Talk to them. Or don't shop during the busiest times.
4 - See # 7
3 and 2 - Some people need their hand held, some people would prefer to walk around for hours looking confused, but feel threatened and upset if someone offers help. We can't read your mind. If you need help, ask for it. If you don't, say no thanks.
1 - It's probably not their department. If it's not, they probably don't know anything about that departments contents and thus, would benefit you not-at-all by hanging around and speculating.

I hope this has been helpful.

4 comments:

Jamie said...

Great post! Sometimes people just don't want to accept the truth.

One thing I learned when working retail: the customer is NOT always right. Sometimes the customer is an idiot.

Anonymous said...

Too true. I've never worked retail but the second list is generally the case in most customer service situations.

SD_pedalpower said...

Nice. Most SA's are trying their best. I like the one about don't show up during busiest times. If I feel I need some one-on-one time I try to make an appointment with my LBS out of common courtesy and common sense.

SD_pedalpower said...

Nice. Most SA's are trying their best. I like the one about don't show up during busiest times. If I feel I need some one-on-one time I try to make an appointment with my LBS out of common courtesy and common sense.